Goodbye, EVIE! I'm leaving!
I might go to China or India or Japan. I'm hungry for some sushi, maybe fried rice!
Goodbye, you Silly Kitty! You sleep all day
and you're not much Fun!
I need to escape, but How? How can I get away from The Little Golden Haired Girl???
I'll ask my Friends who play all day in the Salon
"Hi NEW DOLLIE . . .I'm Leaving! But I don't quite know how to do it. Do you have any ideas???"
" Ha Ha! When the Grandparents go shopping tomorrow on Mission Street, sneak away in their Shopping Bags. They won't know you are There! Ha Ha !!! "
" Goodbye, Cinderella and Icey. I'm leaving here tomorrow. I will miss you both! "
Chapter Two - The Escape begins
"I'll just peek out, to see where we are going !! "
" Ahh! Mission Street! He'll never see me jump out of the Bag !! "
" I'm starting to get hungry!! "
" I don't think I'll try any of these! WHAT THE . . . ???"
" Well, HELLO to you too . . .Whoever You Are !! "
" At Last !! Some home-made chocolate Ice Cream at
Philip's Store !! Maybe he can give me some advice on how to
get away from the Little Golden-Haired Girl "
" You Foolish Goose !! You'll need money and a BART ticket to get to the Airport !! When you come back, stop in at Mocha Chaca at 4482 Mission Street and I'll serve you some more Ice Cream "
( He didn't really say that to Cheryl . . .I just threw it in as a plug for a good Ice Cream Store in San Francisco !! )
" Hmmmm . . .How do you operate one of these things??
I wonder who 'BART" is ???
___________________________
Chapter Three - Cheryl Meets the World -
"I don't know who this 'BART' guy is, but I think he forgot to spell the rest of his name on this door-plate !!"
" I guess BART lives in a tunnel !! "
On instinct alone our Little Web-Footed friend
heads South to San Bruno !!
Here's that little special person of ours viewing her own world of wonderment through a window made of hay bales. What a way to spend vacation time. As we reach toward our 42nd wedding anniversary and get deeper into the role of grandparent, life couldn't be better - or more rewarding!
Veterans Day - 2009
Priest, Chaplain, Medal of Honor Recipient. Hero of the Vietnam War. He continues to serve even though he is bodily no longer with us. He continues to pray for all of us in another form of service to God and Jesus Christ and the men and women who put their lives on the line for us everyday. This shallow world can sometimes turn a blind eye to those who keep the faith for our country and serve in uniform. Those of us who served have a further obligation to make sure that the name Vincent Capodanno is never forgotten. Father Vince is still on a mission.
Melvin Goins and 'Windy Mountain' on the Old Schoolhouse Stage at Lucketts, Virginia.
Scott Brannon and the Scott Brannon Band at Lucketts.One of the best performances yet for this topnotch group. After so many appearances at Lucketts they never sounded better.
2 November 2009: St. John, New Brunswick, Canada
Rarely does an individual deserve his name up in lights - this person does. So I was shocked to get this picture in my electronic mail the other day. But then I'm not surprised, either. It's a great one-upmanship piece of humor shared between two combat vet friends. The photo came over the airwaves when I was in the midst of listening to Judy Collins' "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" and Dire Straits' "Brothers in Arms." Can't get through the last song without a lot of deep thought about the Vietnam War and my old little black book of names and addresses, which is fast becoming out of date as so many of my old war buddies are on their way to Valhala. I know that's their ultimate destination. As I continue to transfer all my new material (and some old) into newer file-keeping technologies my old black book is looking more everyday like the Tibetan Book of the Dead. All well and good until this or that system crashes or another cell phone gets washed again in my favorite pair of Levi's. Time passes into the great changing of the world. Some things remain like art and poets and writers to remind us that there is still a lot of beauty in the world and the flipside which is negativism, evil, hatred, and man's injustice toward other men. We don't seem to learn anything in this existence. We Vietnam Veterans now have sons and even grandsons fighting in two more wars and I hate the politicians, liars, and draft-dodgers who continue to get us into these situations. I'll hate them till the day I exit out of my own little black book. Our only defense is to vote the bums out of office, every chance we get, and to get knowledgeable about every candidate who runs for public office.
There's always a guy like Clyde waiting in the wings to expose the foibles and pity of our human condition. It's the poet's job to do it with language elevated to a level of the transcendent. The listener or reader is required to do his or her part in order for the words to come alive in the human experience. Clyde's craft is in the artistry of the voice. I met him at a time when "performance art" was just about to become all the rage with anyone who could find a stage and think they could perform something "deeply meaningful" on it. But no - this guy was different, and he REALLY had something honest to share with his audiences. He also did something I always admired in him - he refused all offers to show up at any public place that promoted the once popular "poetry slams" - the pseudo-poetry gong-shows of the 80's and 90's. It's not a game with Clyde and never was since the day he left a big chunk of his life invested in his service in Viet Nam. The themes of war, the losses thereof, and remembrance are never far below the surface of anything he writes or performs.
Just published and Available: Bridges You Can Walk Across by Clyde Wray
Clyde Wray appeared 2 November 2009 at the Imperial Theatre in St. John, New Brunswick in the production: Diary Within My Head and Lysistrata
http://www.saintjohnartscentre.com/literary_arts.asp for an interesting interview with Clyde Wray.
12 November 2009:
One of the best choral groups in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Lyric Chorus under the leadership of Robert Train Adams, presents its annual Christmas program at the First Unitarian Universalist Church on Franklin Street, December 6th and 7th at 7:00 pm. This year the program consists of selected works from "The 50 best Christmas Carols and Works from BBC Magazine."
I've spent a lot of time in South Korea on various projects dealing with the Korean War and the history of this magnificent country. South Korea is usually not anyone's priority as a significant travel destination - and that's a shame because America's ties with this important outpost of Democracy on the Pacific Rim run deep. The people of South Korea have a lot to teach us about our own democratic ideals and you can add a lesson in Family Values, too. There, family values hold the whole social structure together and it's not just some throw-away platitude like here in the U.S. Our veterans and the war veterans of South Korea have shared the deepest bond - the sacrifice of life and blood for the continuity of Freedom. Remember them this November 11th, 2009 and if you ever get the chance, visit South Korea. One of the most advanced, modern countries in all of Asia, a trip to the Republic of South Korea will not disappoint.
The Central Gate (looking toward the Song Huong - Perfume River -) as it appeared in 1988 before the influx of international tourism. Photo by Ed Henry, June, 1988.
October 23, 2009 - San Francisco
A fascinating place, an interesting book produced by archivists Roger Bennett and Josh Kun. We recently browsed the exhibit Jews on Vinyl at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco and I couldn't get past the Museum Gift Shop without picking up a copy of the above. Bennett and Kun were concerned that an important part of American Jewish history was being lost in people's old 33 rpm and 45 record collections, so they began rummaging through attics, yard sales, and neighbor's houses to find the rich sources of material that comprise the current exhibit Jews on Vinyl at the Museum. The book is a rare collection of 40's, 50's, and 60's album covers from both the U.S. and Israel and covers a broad range of issues concerning the history of Jewish music production in the recent past. Bennett and Kun continue the search for more material with the establishment of www.trailofourvinyl.com and in collaboration with www.rebootstereophonic.com hope to re-release some of these lost classics.
also: www.thecjm.org
